[color="lightsteelblue”]Dorian DeLoughrey[/color]
{ Alone with kids and… Emily | 2036 }
”Heeeyyy… are you free to fly over?” With little Aidan crying in his arms, Dorian called the other person he knew could help him after his own mother didn’t pick up his calls in this urgent situation. His sister. And what was so urgent? Well, Dorian has been all alone with three kids for a week now since Jessica left to work on a story and things were… not as easy as he thought they would be… not even after raising two girls. But to be fair Jessica was always there before so this was the first time he had to do it all alone and he had no idea what he was doing wrong. Yes, he knew how to take care of a baby by now but not how to make that baby stop crying after everything he’d tried. Moral of this whole story - don’t let your wife leave you alone with a baby. Not when you’re like Dorian.
Davina was usually often around to help with all of their kids but not this time - Dorian claimed he didn’t need any help and he just wanted to spend his time alone with kids, knowing Jessica won’t be gone for too long. But oh was he wrong. It was hell taking them all out to do something together, taking them out for ice cream, to go to the playground, shopping. With one hyperactive daughter and other that wanted to do everything her sister did, it was hard to follow their every move while taking care of a baby. Or loading up the trunk of his car with groceries. [color="lightsteelblue”]”Come here,”[/color] Dorian turned to the shopping cart filled with bags and two little girls inside and picked up Zoe, right after placing baby Aidan in his car seat. “Dadddd, can I help you?” Referring to the groceries and bags she was playing with, Shay asked with a grin on her face making her sister do the same thing. “I want… to help…”
[color="lightsteelblue”]”You’ll help next time, okay? ”[/color] Dorian started with a soft smile, already helping Zoe with her own seat. Knowing exactly how that was going to end - in tears and… more tears. But that would only slow them down and he wanted to get home as soon as possible. [color="lightsteelblue”]”Hey, hey, no crying. You’ll help me next time I promise, we just have to get home quickly, ”[/color] giving her a kiss, he closed the door with a sigh, still hearing her quiet sobs. [color="lightsteelblue”]”Okay… let’s go,”[/color] looking at Shay, Dori whispered before pushing the cart to the back of his car, letting her help him - placing bags in the trunk as she struggled to pick them up and hand them to him. ”Dorian?” A voice he heard from behind making him stop for a second, taking a wild guess of who that might be… he knew that voice pretty well but he was, maybe, hoping his guess was wrong.
[color="steelblue”]”I can’t believe it’s you! What a small world,”[/color] but he was right and he was standing right in front of Emily Dalton. Was she even still Dalton? He had no idea and honestly, he did not care. But he tried to be nice to her over the years when she was trying to stay in touch with him… small world, huh? The girl moved to Miami right after him so he did not believe in small worlds. [color="lightsteelblue”]”Hi… Yes. Uhm… How have you been?”[/color] Dorian started following her gaze and noticing that almost forced smile as she was looking at Shay. But she quickly looked back at him and stepped forward to give him a friendly hug, resting her hands on his shoulders. [color=“steelblue”]”Wonderful, and you?”[/color] Pulling back and turning to close the trunk, he looked at his daughter who seemed visibly uncomfortable and not very happy… just like him. [color="lightsteelblue”]”Fine-”[/color] [color="steelblue”]"So that’s your daughter? What a little cutie you are,”[/color] interrupting him as she noticed he was looking at his little girl in the cart, she walked over to her, gently placing her hand on her little cheek and sweetly smiling at her, making Shay slightly pull back and look at her dad, speaking up, “Can we gooo dad?”
[color="steelblue”]”And your… wife?”[/color] But Emily was quick to continue, looking back at Dorian as well and keeping the smile on. Her gaze shifting to the car as she heard another child crying… maybe giving her a wrong idea. She couldn’t see Jessica and it seemed like all of his kids were there so… where was she? Why wasn’t she with them? Wouldn’t she help? [color="lightsteelblue”]”Working. Thanks for asking but we have to go,”[/color] Dorian mumbled, picking up Shay and turning to face Emily again, pushing a cart towards her. ”Can you please help me with this and put it back? I’m in a rush, thank you. Nice seeing you,” he quickly added, without another word and put Shay in her seat before going to his side and leaving Emily standing there alone.
What was harder, getting home and bringing everything inside or what he did with Shay earlier? Well, both were quite hard. First he had to bring the kids inside and trust Shay with looking after Aidan as he went back to the car and picked up all their groceries and then come back inside to… Aidan crying. ”What’s wrong, buddy?” A slight frown met his lips as he placed the bags on the table and walked over to his son as little Zoe immediately ran up to the table to find a lolly her dad bought her. He was… hungry? Yes, that was Dorian’s guess so he went to the kitchen, holding his son as he started heating up… almond milk. Dorian tried to do this a long time ago - while he was getting all the groceries he got almond milk for the baby since he only drinks almond milk. What he didn’t know is that babies can’t drink that, there was this… thing… Dorian didn’t pay much attention to when Jessica tried to explain how it works… well Dorian thought it was just Jessica being a little health hater and blocked that whole conversation out of his mind. Wrong move, because now he found himself struggling with Aidan once again as he wouldn’t stop crying, no matter what Dorian was doing and no matter how hard he was trying - why he was on the phone with his sister, finally admitting he did need help.